Encampments, disability payments, highway tolls: Ontario parties talk affordability

A composite image made from four file photographs show, from left to right, Leader of the Ontario NDP Marit Stiles in Toronto, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025; Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Doug Ford in Brampton, Ont., Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025; Ontario Liberal Party Leader Bonnie Crombie in Ottawa, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025; and Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner in Toronto, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Lahodynskyj, Eduardo Lima, Spencer Colby, Arlyn McAdorey

Ontario’s main political parties pivoted to affordability measures today as tariffs took a back seat on the campaign trail.

The NDP and Liberal leaders focused on housing and affordability issues, with promises to end homeless encampments and provide more financial support for people with disabilities.

The Progressive Conservatives say they will make an ongoing tax cut for gas and diesel permanent and remove tolls from the publicly owned portion of Highway 407 east of Toronto.

The affordability crisis has dogged Doug Ford’s government over the past several years and was set to be a major campaign issue before U.S. President Donald Trump won the election.

Ford called a snap election for Feb. 27, saying he needs a fresh mandate to deal with Trump.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie say the election is unnecessary, a waste of money and nothing short of a power grab by Ford while he’s ahead in the polls.

Stiles listed several steps she would take to end encampments in communities across the province, calling their presence Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford’s “greatest failure.” But she would not say how much her plan would cost, saying only “that will all come” later.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario has estimated that more than 80,000 people in the province were homeless last year and that $11 billion over 10 years would be required to end chronic homelessness.

Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie vowed to double payments under the Ontario Disability Support Program, which currently maxes out at $1,368 per month for a single person. She said the boost would be permanent, pegged to inflation and phased in over two years.

“It will be costed and part of the platform when we release it,” she said during a campaign stop in Hamilton, adding that the pledge goes “hand-in-hand” with her key priority to find everyone in Ontario a family doctor in four years.

Shortly before Ford called the snap election for Feb. 27, his government announced it was giving municipalities up to $75.5 million to end encampments by creating more emergency shelter spaces and affordable housing units.

People are simply moving from one encampment to another, and the last-minute pot of money will not solve the problem, Stiles said in Toronto on Wednesday.

“After seven years of Doug Ford, encampments are the new normal,” she said. “Seeing tents in parks is a stark reminder of how utterly Doug Ford has failed. He has failed on housing, he has failed on health care, he has failed on creating good jobs and he has failed to make life affordable.”

Stiles said an NDP government would create 60,000 new supportive housing units, have the province pay for shelter costs instead of municipalities and double social assistance rates. She did not indicate how much the promises would cost.

“First of all, that will all come, but I will tell you this, we can’t afford not to do this,” she said.

Asked about the NDP’s latest pledge, Crombie said she doesn’t “make comments” on other parties' platforms but agreed that more affordable and supportive housing is needed, especially for people with addictions and mental health issues. She, too, called encampments a failure of the Ford government.

The government had also announced $378 million to create 19 homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs, with up to 375 highly supportive housing units, but Crombie called them “a drop in the bucket” compared to the huge need for such services.

Ford said if re-elected, he’ll make the 5.7-cent tax cut on gas and 5.3-cent cut on diesel permanent.

The province first temporarily slashed the gasoline and diesel tax rates in July 2022 but have repeatedly extended the cuts since.

Tolls on the 43-kilometre section of Highway 407 from Pickering, Ont., to Clarington, Ont., will be taken off permanently should the Progressive Conservatives win the election, Ford said.

Ford had previously mused about buying back the 407 ETR, which the PC government sold off in 1999 for $3.1 billion.

— With files from Sharif Hassan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2025.